RTFA: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080219/ts_nm/cuba_cas…

HAVANA (Reuters) – Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro stepped down on Tuesday 49 years after taking power in an armed revolution, closing the book on a Cold War career that turned him into a leftist icon and a tyrant to his foes.

Castro, 81, who has not appeared in public since undergoing stomach surgery almost 19 months ago, said he would not seek a new term as president or leader of Cuba’s armed forces when the National Assembly meets on Sunday.

His retirement raised expectations for change on the communist island, but Cuba experts said limited economic reforms were more likely than swift political change.